The medieval features on Thanet Earth dated to between the mid-eleventh century to the early part of the fourteenth (possibly extending to AD 1350). The activity is primarily agricultural in nature with significant elements of domestic occupation. A site wide system of enclosures appears to be intimately related to various trackways across the site. The activity around these enclosures has been grouped into a number of Medieval ‘sites’.

Site 14, 35m to the south of site 13, dated to the later period of medieval activity at Thanet earth, between c. 1175 and 1350, again with the proviso that earlier ceramics suggest an origin in the latter part of Phase 3. This was a disparate spread of features that included two buildings not seemingly associated with enclosures. One of these was SFB 54 which was very small and uncertainly interpreted and the other SFB 55 which was by far the largest sunken-featured structure on site, with an internal area of about 100m2. Unfortunately it was heavily truncated which has made interpretation of it slightly difficult. Unusually for such structures it seems to have been designed to an exact size in feet, and in proportions of thirds, much like timber-framed buildings of this period. There is a suggestion that it was originally a barn or more probably a cow-shed but was converted perhaps, into a domestic building with benches on its perimeter. Its arrangement brings to mind the hall and service room, divided by cross passage, layout common to many early medieval timber buildings although there was no obvious physical sign of a cross passage in the truncated remains. It revealed a relatively substantial assemblage of pottery dating to 1225-1325 which again suggests a domestic function for at least part of this structure.

6.5m to the south west of this structure, enclosure 52 and its associated features. The ditch itself was much larger than others which have been encountered across the site, between 4.8 and 5.0m wide along most of its length (25m north south and 27m east-west) and about 1.95m deep. It formed an open sided arrangement along with trackway 30, similar to others also along this trackway to the north and south. To the south of its ‘enclosed’ area, as with Enclosure 55, were a number of features including two structures (SFB 49 and SFB 50), but the concentration was not as great, with little evidence of domestic occupation. It is possible that these structures were used for storage rather than being occupied. A large roughly sub-rectangular erosion hollow was aligned with the enclosure partly within its boundaries but few underlying features were revealed suggesting that the erosion was caused by the penning of animals. Two shallow ditch segments on the south-west corner of the hollow, may be related to this activity. (1) (information summarised from source)

Enclosure G5084 of Medieval date was visible as a cropmark in Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-AUG-2003. This feature was mapped as part of the Historic England Isle of Thanet project in 2024. (2-3)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2023, Beneath the Seamark: 6000 Years of an Islands History (Monograph). SKE55405.

<2> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-AUG-2003 (Archive). SKE57110.

<3> James, Holman, Robert Masefield, Jonathan Rady, Jake Weekes, 2023, Farming, Everyday Life and Ritual. 6000 years of archaeology at Thanet Earth, p163 (Bibliographic reference). SKE58381.